Claudia "Dolly" Powers: Long way from home to see my (expanded) family

Published 6:23 pm, Thursday, October 4, 2012

Greetings from South Africa -- half a world away and well south of the equator.

Thank goodness South African Airways provides various maps throughout the flight showing our gradual progress from New York to Johannesburg -- the grownup equivalent of "Are we there yet?" And there are many, many hours to ponder that age-old question. Even when the little plane on the video map has reached the big bump of western Africa, quite half the distance remains to be covered, moving down the western coast of the continent.

Did you know that the United States fits quite tidily in the very top section of Africa, and China (turned sideways) fits easily into the bottom third of the continent? These facts were news to me as well, but considering the hours it took to descend the west coast as far as Johannesburg, the sheer size of Africa was definitely clearer.

You all may well be asking why I am here; especially this time of year when the town calendar is overflowing with events and celebrations. I am answering the grandmotherly call-to-duty for my first granddaughter. After four sons and two grandsons (all wonderful and dearly loved), the first baby girl in a generation is preparing to join our family. We are all hugely pleased, and when the request came, I accepted with alacrity (some trepidation but also a joyous whoop).

Our home base here is the nation's capital of Pretoria, about 40 minutes north of the Johannesburg airport by highway. The altitude is comparable to Denver's, and the air is crisp and dry (springtime here below the equator). My first couple of days here the sky was blue and the sun shone brightly. Then the South African skies opened for a multi-hour event of thunder, brilliant lightening and downpours.

Trees, flowers and pastures are suddenly green, and the multitude of birds are in full chorus. A varied array of birds come and go all day long across the gardens, their unusual calls mingling with the sounds of the children at school across the street. Even though we are situated in a lovely neighborhood and not the jungle, an astonishing variety of birds make their homes here.

As one would expect in a former British colony, cars travel on the left and pedestrians walk on the right. Traffic is quite lively (to put it kindly), and the drivers a bit erratic. Defensive driving seems the safest course. Grocery stores and drugstores are remarkably similar in style and content to those at home. The smaller neighborhood stores are more interesting to explore, with the experienced guidance from my son and daughter-in-law.

Dr. Teddy, my number-two son, has an office at the University of Pretoria where he is conducting post-doctoral research on the role of small-scale entrepreneurship in South Africa's economic development. Teddy is thrilled to be benefitting from the expertise of Dr. Keith Hart (former head of African Studies at Cambridge University) and Dr. John Sharp (well-known South African anthropologist).

We joined a group of Teddy's research colleagues for lunch at an open-air market, which was great fun. Around the al fresco table were represented Holland, Zimbabwe, Canada, Brazil, and Jamaica to name just a few. This diversity is reflective of the quick snapshots I have seen so far of the Johannesburg/Pretoria metro area. First impressions are just that -- first impressions, so I make no claims to anything other than that so far. Greater explorations of this beautiful country are on hold for future times, as this visit is reserved for my Teddy, my beautiful daughter-in-law, Kat, and my granddaughter.

Claudia "Dolly" Powers, a Greenwich resident, is a former special education teacher who represented the town's 151st District for eight terms in the state House of Representatives.